A Miniature Lens Scanner With An Electrothermally-actuated Micro-stage

This paper reports the design and characterization of a MEMS lens scanner based on a novel electrothermally-actuated MEMS stage and a planoconvex polymer lens. Cu/W are used in the electrothermal bimorphs, replacing previously... [ view full abstract ]

This paper reports the design and characterization of a MEMS lens scanner based on a novel electrothermally-actuated MEMS stage and a planoconvex polymer lens. Cu/W are used in the electrothermal bimorphs, replacing previously employed Al and SiO₂ to improve the stiffness of MEMS stages. At the same time, the lens is made of PDMS, greatly reducing the weight compared to glass lenses. The MEMS lens scanner can generate a large vertical movement of over 100μm at only 5 V, while still keeping its piston resonant frequency as high as 293Hz. The footprint of this MEMS lens scanner is only 3.8×3.8mm².